New $10,000 Te Taiao Participation Fund launched
Supporting whānau, hapū and iwi participation at CCBC 2026
National conferences shape national conversations but not everyone who should be in the room can easily get there.
That is why Lever Room has initiated and funded the new Te Taiao Participation Fund, with $10,000 available to support participation at the 2026 Climate Change & Business Conference.
The fund is designed to support conference places, as well as reasonable travel and accommodation support, for whānau, hapū and iwi members whose work, responsibilities or interests connect with climate, te taiao, whenua or community resilience.
The idea came from something practical.
A subsidised registration helps, but the full cost of attending a national conference can still include travel, accommodation, and time away from work, whānau or other responsibilities. Those costs can shape who is able to participate and who is missing from the conversation.
That matters because climate risk is no longer abstract or distant.
It is showing up in decisions about land, infrastructure, assets, investment, communities, ecosystems and long-term resilience. The national climate conversation needs technical, financial and policy perspectives — but it also needs practical, place-based and intergenerational perspectives.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, those perspectives are deeply connected to te taiao, kaitiakitanga, whenua and responsibility to future generations.
The Te Taiao Participation Fund is intended to help more of those perspectives be in the room.
Expressions of interest and nominations are now open, with applications for consideration closing 11:59pm Monday 27 July.
That’s less than a week away — so if someone comes to mind, please send this opportunity their way, nominate them, or reshare this post so it reaches the right networks quickly.
Apply or nominate here: [insert link]
Other subsidised registration pathways are also available through CCBC for eligible attendees, including NGOs, startups, students, new graduates and non-corporate individuals.
The fund has been co-developed alongside the Climate Change & Business Conference project partners: the Environmental Defence Society, the Sustainable Business Council and the Climate Leaders Coalition.